Following its successful world premiere and tour across the U.K. in 2023, “Black Sabbath – The Ballet” will be returning for a international tour taking place in 2024 and 2025.
According to Blabbermouth, the ballet, commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director Carlos Acosta and Ballet Now, features reorchestrated Black Sabbath songs and new music inspired by the iconic British heavy metal band. All performances are live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
Acosta shared last year that 60 percent of tickets for the U.K. shows had been purchased by Sabbath fans. “Black Sabbath is so different from the world of ballet, and I wanted to multiply our reach,” he said. “I hate to be predictable; I hate for the company to be taken for granted. Everyone knows ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘Cinderella’ … [It’s] a great opportunity for us to show people the world of dance.”
Black Sabbath - The Ballet is going on tour to the United States 🇺🇸!
— Birmingham Royal Ballet (@BRB) April 23, 2024
The show that took the UK by storm last year is going to Washington DC's @kencen.
For more details, click here: https://t.co/zZzLJ4qHOy pic.twitter.com/SjXbcrHCud
Per Blabbermouth, back in April 2023, when asked by Birmingham World if he saw this collaboration coming half a century after Black Sabbath was formed, guitarist Tony Iommi said, “I wouldn’t have believed them, really, to be honest. At the time when I got involved with Black Sabbath, I thought it was great, because it was something so different and hasn’t been done before. And I found it, I think, a good challenge.”
He continued, “I’m looking at our music differently now with this [the ballet], because it is being interpreted in a different way. It’s still got the basic things, but then it did have in the different orchestral things coming in. And then I never thought for a minute we would have people dancing to Black Sabbath and ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Iron Man’. But here we are, you know.”
He also shared his satisfaction with how the ballet respected the essence of Black Sabbath’s music while adding a new dimension. He said, “We don’t want to change it so you can’t recognize it. So they’ve held that part of it, but added another dimension to it. So I was very happy with that.”
Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of the band’s lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, shared her initial reaction to the unique collaboration in an October 2023 video from Birmingham Royal Ballet, saying, “I just thought, this is so left field. It’s so not expected. Who would have ever thought the combination? And I just thought, brilliant. This is just so out there that it’s wonderful.”
“Black Sabbath – The Ballet” International Dates:
Luxor Theatre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
June 12-15, 2024
Grand Theatre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Luxembourg
June 19-20, 2024
Staatsoper, Hamburg, Germany
July 9-10, 2024
The Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington, D.C.
June 4-8, 2025
Songs used in the ballet:
* “Paranoid” (Paranoid album, 1970);
* “Iron Man” (Paranoid album, 1970);
* “War Pigs” (Paranoid album, 1970);
* “Black Sabbath” (Black Sabbath album, 1970);
* “Solitude” (Master Of Reality album, 1971);
* “Orchid” (Master Of Reality album, 1971);
* “Laguna Sunrise” (Vol 4 album, 1972)
* “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album, 1973).
